Overview:

United Veterinary Care is delighted to host veterinary students for externships!  This valuable clinical experience will let you take what you’ve learned in the classroom and put it to the test in an animal hospital of your choice.  Our hands-on externships are designed exclusively for veterinary students at AVMA-accredited veterinary schools in their clinical years, typically meaning their 3^rd or 4^th year of vet school.  Since every student has different interests, we are excited to offer these programs at a wide variety of our amazing partner hospitals.  We know that travel and lodging expenses for externships can often be cost-prohibitive on a student’s budget.  To make our externships as accessible as possible, we offer stipends to externs to help offset these costs (unless prohibited by the veterinary school you are attending). 

Eligibility requirements:

• Must be a current veterinary student at an AVMA-accredited veterinary school
• Priority scheduling is given to students in their clinical years on official externship blocks for school credit
• Must provide proof of professional liability insurance. SAVMA members qualify for no cost insurance by applying at the following link: SAVMA Member Benefit and Resources | AVMA PLIT

Hospital information:

Founded in 1953, Animal Clinic Inc. of Chattanooga has been dedicated for more than 60 years to providing exemplary services that consistently exceed the expectations of our clients and their highly-valued pets. We are a full service veterinary medical facility with two full-service clinic locations in Chattanooga, TN. The professional and courteous staff at Animal Clinic Downtown & Animal Clinic East seek to provide the best possible medical, surgical, and dental care for our highly valued patients.  We go above and beyond to meet the strict requirements of AAHA, The American Animal Hospital Association, to maintain our accreditation for caring for companion animals. AAHA accreditation is sought voluntarily by only 15 percent of North American veterinary practices, and we are proud to be one of them!    

At our Downtown location, we are thrilled to see exotics as well as dogs and cats!  Dr. Tony Ashley became DABVP certified in 2008 by the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners and more recently has become DACZM certified by the American College of Zoological Medicine. 

Our team has always placed a great emphasis on mentorship of new veterinarians and opening our doors to vet students for various learning opportunities.  If you'd like to spend your externship time with a supportive team, in a full-service hospital, expanding your medical and communication skills, Animal Clinic Downtown would be an excellent choice!

Species treated:

Dogs; Cats; Pocket pets/small mammals; Birds; Reptiles

Services offered:

Ultrasound; Endoscopy; Soft tissue surgery; Dentistry; Wellness/Preventative care; Medical appointments

Number of doctors: 
11 (between the two locations)

What to expect from your externship:

We want to hear from you about your professional goals for your externship experience!  Please indicate your top priorities in your application, so we can tailor the experience to meet your needs.

During your externship, you can expect to actively participate in cases and further your development towards becoming a veterinarian.  Throughout your time with us, you will always be supervised by an experienced veterinarian and skilled support staff.  This team will serve as your mentors for your externship experience.  Expect to be included in surgical cases, dental procedures, emergencies, sick patient workups, and routine medical appointments.  If there are certain technical skills you are looking to improve on, let us know so we can place emphasis on these areas!  We encourage active participation from externs, introduce them to our clients, and truly make them part of our team.  Listening to the patient history, conducting a preliminary exam, and formulating a plan for diagnostics and treatment are a great way to put your education to the test and help prepare you for the real-world of veterinary medicine.  You will discuss these cases with your supervising veterinarian and have them confirm your exam findings to verify whether are on the right track with your plans before moving forward with the case as a team.  This dynamic creates the ideal environment for you to grow in your confidence and skill with managing both routine and complex cases.  We encourage externs to select one case per week to further research and engage the veterinarians in further case discussion with this additional information.  These case discussions help our teams learn and grow together; further emphasizing that mentorship is a two-way street. 

We truly enjoy hosting externs and having new graduates join our teams since with new team members always comes new shared knowledge!